Shadowing…

Still on the trail of Doctor Jackal the EIS team are turning their attention to virologist and medical researcher Jonas Salk, who has departed San Francisco with one team member in very close proximity. Two other members of the team are in hot pursuit while the other recovers from her injuries. The EIS team consists of Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section; Mimi Dubois, maîtresse of skills; Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter.

San Diego, California, United States of America, November 1949

On the outskirts of San Diego, at 4 am in the morning, Alfie and Sven pull into a diner and settle down to their umpteenth round of pancakes while wonder aloud what they should do next. Alfie suggests asking Mimi but when he mentally reaches out to Billy in San Francisco he realises that they are asleep. Meanwhile, in the house of Jonas Salk, Madeline slides through the shadows and slips her hand beneath the pillows in shadow form and feels around for the brass sphere but she can't locate it. She quietly positions her shadowy head beneath the pillows and can see that Salk is holding the brass sphere tightly in his hand. Using her enhanced abilities Madeline starts to drop the temperature around the sleeping Salk in the hope that he releases the ball and snuggles down, but he merely grips the ball tighter as if his life depended on it.

Annoyed and somewhat disgruntled, Madeline descends downstairs to the kitchen before resuming her solid form and writing a simple note for Salk:

We need to talk!

She then transforms back into her shadowy form and heads up into the houses loft space, where she settles down and drifts off to sleep. At almost the exact same time, Sven pushes his empty plate away from him and tells Alfie that they should book into a motel for the day and get some rest before contacting Mimi, and so that is what they do.

Just after eight in the morning in San Francisco the backstreet doctor wakes Mimi and checks her injuries, after a through inspection he tells her that it would be inadvisable for her to attempt travelling. Having previously borrowed his ability as a surgeon, Mimi gives herself a second opinion and is forced to agree with him. When Billy arrives with a mug of coffee for her she lets him know that they will not be going anywhere today and to make Alfie aware of the situation.

Early afternoon sees Madeline slip from the darkness of the Salk's loft and back out onto the streets of San Diego, she locates a public telephone and makes contact with Terrance in San Francisco, the British Intelligence agent let's Madeline know that there are 'friendlies' in the vicinity and that she should make her way to a specified location and await contact. Terrance then contacts the safe house and informs Billy and Mimi that Madeline has made contact and Billy relays the information to Alfie so that he and Sven can rendezvous with Madeline. By just after six in the evening the three of them are sat in yet another diner discussing what Madeline has found over dinner.

Madeline informs the others that Salk lives at 6915 Neptune Place, right near the sea, and that his place of work is the Institute of Biological Studies on Torrey Pines Road. Madeline also informs them of her frustration at not being able to secure the brass sphere and Sven suggests that she and Alfie head back to the motel to rest up while he investigates the institute.

Sven ducks into an alley near the diner and moments later a hawk propels itself up into the night sky and wings its way in the direction of the institute. The location is easily spotted from the air and is a modern building with a clean structured layout. After several fly pasts Sven has spotted very little in the way of security and so, transforming into a thrush in midair, descends and lands within sight of the reception area. He spies a single security guard behind a reception desk and decides to settle down to keep watch. The night is mostly uneventful with a couple of guard changes and a not very observant single guard patrol passing by. By the time that morning comes around the number of guards has doubled and there are several cars parking in the car park with people in civilian clothing heading into the building. Sven heads back to the motel to inform the others.

With her itch to get back into action mounting Mimi declares herself fit to travel, very much against the doctors advice, and once Terrance has secured them a car she and Billy set off for San Diego letting Alfie know that they are on route. The day passes uneventfully, Madeline goes shopping and finds herself a lovely dress, Sven and Alfie eat more pancakes, and Billy and Charlie share the long drive to San Diego from San Francisco while Mimi sleeps in the back of the car. The group rendezvous at the diner just after eight in the evening and taking a single car agree to do a drive past of the Salk residence. As they draw close Mimi begins to push out with her senses and gets a return letting her know that there is another enhanced in the area, she focuses on it and places it within the Salk residence.

Before Alfie turns the car onto Neptune Place, Madeline spots a dark sedan with two suited occupants parked up around the corner from the Salk house looking every bit like FBI agents trying to blend in. She then spots another car with another pair of suited occupants parked just outside of Salk's house. Mimi pushes hard with her senses into the mind of the enhanced that she has detected and can sense that their strongest enhanced power is an extended lifespan. The French woman is considering this when Madeline points out yet another dark sedan with two occupants just around the next corner, the FBI are clearly not taking any chances with Salk after the Einstein incident.

Sven transforms himself into a thrush and launches himself from the car and up into the night sky. He swoops around the outside of the house a couple of times before coming to land in the branches of a palm tree in the front garden of Salk's house. As he watches a shadow appears against the patio doors at the side of the house and Sven sees Salk step out into the night air holding a flashing brass sphere in his hand out in front of him. He gazes around himself and looks up into the tree. He then looks away and glances up and down the road. Sven remains very still hoping that his small form and the dark of the night conceal his presence. Salk takes a couple of steps forwards and looks back up into the tree once again before stooping to the ground and picking up a stone. Salk throws the stone up at Sven and shouts:

CLEAR OFF!

The stone sails through the air and smacks into the thrush sized Norwegian, even though the stone does him no damage Sven plays dead within the branches. That is until someone gets out of one of the cars parked outside Salk's house and walks up the houses pathway asking Salk if he is alright. Sven leaps into the air and flies away as fast as his wings will take him. Sven loops around and lands on the beach before transforming into a cat and creeping up the dunes to get a view of the front of Salk's house once again. He settles down to keep watch. Alfie drives back to the motel and we wait for Sven's return. Sven watches until the car in front of the house drives away, only to be replaced a minute later by a different dark sedan with a pair of dark suited occupants.

The team return the following evening with a plan of sticking with one of the FBI cars and locating their base of operations so that they can search through their records. Alfie parks the car a block away from Salk's house and Madeline and Mimi transform into shadows and slip through the back alleys towards the house and the FBI car parked around the corner. They slide beneath the FBI vehicle and attach themselves to the bottom of the car. Mimi then pushes out with her senses once again and makes contact with the enhanced within Salk's house. She pushes into the mind of the enhanced and discovers that their next power is a compartmentalized mind. It must be Salk who is enhanced, based on the conversation that Madeline overheard. Mimi pushes once again and finds that Salk has a distributed brain. Mimi takes no further risks and the female EIS agents wait for the car to move. It is four o'clock in the morning when it does so.